1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to a multi-card connector assembly capable of being connected to multiple types of electrical cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical cards for computers include multimedia storage cards or memory cards. The available memory cards, such as the Secure Digital Card (SDC), MultiMedia Card (MMC), Smart Media Card (SMC), Memory Stick Card (MSC), XD-picture card (XDC), and the like, in the market have various specifications. Because the positions of connection points of the memory cards with different specifications are not the same, electrical connectors to be connected to the memory cards with different specifications are not the same.
In order to facilitate the usage, the manufacturers try to integrate different electrical connectors into an electrical connector assembly suitable for various memory cards with various specifications. Because the assembly has to match with various memory cards with various specifications, the integrated multi-card connector must have various terminals corresponding to the memory cards with different specifications. Thus, the number of terminals is very large, and the pins of terminals cannot be ensured to be completely smooth.
As shown in FIG. 1, an multi-card electrical connector assembly suitable for multiple cards such as SDC, MMC, SMC, MSC, and XDC has a plurality of terminals. The pins 11 of the terminals extend out of the lateral side of the bottom surface of the base 12. The pins 11 cannot be kept smooth unless the assembly is precisely manufactured. In addition, the miss of soldering cannot be completely eliminated when the assembly is soldered to the mainboard of the electrical product.
Because the multi-card connector assembly cannot be easily soldered to the mainboard, the following drawbacks exist in the usage state.
1. The multi-card connector assembly has to be soldered to the mainboard under a high temperature condition, so the miss of soldering may be caused or the thermal shock may influence the assembly.
2. It is complicated to solder the multi-card connector assembly and then test the function of the assembly, and the assembly cannot be easily repaired and soldered again when the miss of soldering is found.
3. When the downstream manufacturer has found the second drawback, the downstream manufacturer will doubt the manufacturing quality of the multi-card connector assembly, or even stop the order. Thus, the upstream manufacturer may have a large loss. Even though the product has no defect in the upstream manufacturer and the defect is produced in the board-soldering process in the downstream manufacturer, the downstream manufacturer also may think that the defect is produced in the upstream manufacturer.